Archive
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August 2014

In the world of architecture, level lines and right angles are the standard, but some architects reject these principals and some properties can't be contained with these traditional confines. These are some of the weirdest buildings on earth.

Crooked House

You don't need to order a drink to feel drunk at the Crooked House. That's because this pub is entirely disorienting, tilting this way and that throughout the entire interior. The structure's staggered stance is a result of mining underneath the pub during the 1800s that left one end of the structure four feet lower than the other.

Dancing House

Designed in 1992 by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić and Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, the Dancing House was designed to be a building of two parts to represent the transition of Czechoslovakia from a communist state under the USSR to an independent democracy.

Crazy House

This bizarre building by Vietnamese architect Đặng Việt Nga is reminiscent of a massive banyan tree on the outside, while the interior looks notably cave-like. Nga did not use traditional blueprints to design the structure, but instead creates paintings, which she then has local craftsmen to convert into a physical structure. The structure has become a popular tourist destination and has been included in many tv shows, blogs and magazines.

With rock, steel, wood and glass in ample quantities, the House Serengeti is loaded with an array of striking, eye-catching textures. The rusted steel slats outside not only provide a rugged design accent, but also an additional layer of privacy and a little extra protection from the sun. Rocks cover the walls of the kitchen, exterior walls and bedrooms, giving the home a natural look that seems all too appropriate for the Johannesburg location. Additionally, the rocks provide a natural heating element during the winter months, just as the cantilevered windows allow for sun absorption during the winter and blocking direct sunlight in the summer.

The front exterior of the home features a massive, rust-colored steel wall that can be rolled back to reveal a double-car garage. To even get to the front entrance you have to take in some of the impressive design, passing over a koi pond across a Balau timber walkway. The massive pivoting door both welcomes guests and enhances the resident's views.

There are plenty of passive iPhone speakers out there that require no electricity to run, but most of them either offer inferior sound amplification or a cheap, plastic design. The Chino Legato Passive Speaker is different.

The Chino Legato is made from beautiful, high-quality ash wood and features the classic, eye-pleasing shape of a traditional Victrola speaker. The shape is both sleek and elegant and the wood grain only helps emphasize the simple, stunning design while also providing warm, powerful sound. In fact, the sound can be boosted up to 6 decibels.

The design makes for both a striking way to amplify your iPhone when you want a speaker and a great-looking place to store your iPhone when it's not in use.

There's nothing quite so shocking to the senses as stepping out of a nice warm shower and being overwhelmed by freezing air. You can try to towel off as quickly as possible, but you'll still be chilly until all of your skin is chilly -and for those who are handicapped, the process can be an even longer freezing, drippy nightmare.

What's the alternative? How about a body dryer that fits right inside your shower so you can totally dry off before you even open the door or curtain? The Tornado Body Dryer is a gentle way to dry yourself completely without ever reaching for a towel. For those with mobility issues or who are afraid of slipping and hurting themselves, it's particularly useful as the 200 holes that release the air are designed to circulate around your whole body, so you don't even need to turn in circles to completely dry off. It even works for those who use wheelchairs.

You can't just leave your butter out all the time, but using chilled butter on your toast is a nightmare -it either doesn't spread or it rips your bread apart. So rather than planning to enjoy bread and butter at least an hour ahead of time, instead, try the ButterUp.

The ButterUp essentially shreds your butter into thin little ribbons -immediately making it spreadable. The other side features slight serration so it can be used to cut bread before you spread it. The design is also easily washable so you aren't stuck with old butter clogging up your knife after you pull it out of the dishwasher. Designers of the creation went through a number of prototypes to find a shape that was the most effective at shredding the butter while still being easy to clean.

There was a time when practically all home sinks were one of a handful of styles and the faucet was the only real distinguishing factor. But nowadays, you have just as much variety in the shape and style of your sink as you do in the type of faucet to use. Here are a few of the most unique designs we could find to inspire you to replace your boring old basin and tap.

AIS

Who said a sink needs a faucet? Well, sure, you need somewhere for the water to come out, but with the AIS by Moab 80, that somewhere is actually built right into the back of the sink itself. The end result is a minimalist sink that looks even more stark without a faucet flowing into it.

T4

If Moab 80 can make a sink without a faucet, then it only makes sense that someone else would make one without a drainpipe -or at least, one with the illusion of not having a drain pipe. Axolute Design created the T4 to be only an inch and a half thick while still holding a built-in, integrated siphon. Aside from the unique look, the sink also offers the benefit of having an opening too small for most rings and other jewelry to fall down and get lost.

SP6

Axolute's SP6 offers many of the advantages of the T4, only with a round sink basin and a lengthy counter to match. The drain-free illusion isn't quite as noticeable in this slightly thicker design with a counter that seems to conceal the piping, but you do receive the benefit of having a nice counter for your bathroom, which the T4 lacks.

Plugless

Where Axolute aimed to hide the drain in their sinks, Studio Ganszyniec decided to intentionally leave out a drain in their basin. The concept behind that decision was to allow people to see exactly how much water they are using, rather than just letting it trickle down the drain. When you consciously have to dump out the bowl of water in the provided siphon, you will see how much you used for a given activity -hopefully reducing the amount of water you use in the future.

You can change the interior design of a home, but without going through a major rennovation, you can't actually change the structure of the home itself -that is, unless you happen to live in the Sharifi-ha House.

Designed by nextoffice, the amazing structure fetaures three rotating spaces that can be open or closed at will based on the time of day, the weather or even your moods. While traditional Iranian homes are built with both winter and summer living rooms, but this design allows one room to serve both functions as it is opened up for the warm, summer months or closed off for Tehran's long, snowy winters.

Every real business needs a coffee table and if you really want to show your business prowess, you need a table that speaks volumes to visiting clients and competitors. This Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet Conference Table is certain to impress as much as it intimidates.

Offering space to seat twelve people comfortably and at least sixteen with a little squeezing, the table is certainly large enough for most business needs and it offers plenty of space for computers, projectors, notepads and conference phones too. It's even equipped with electrical sockets for all your critical business gizmos.

Of course, if you're looking for something for your home and find a Boeing 747 engine a little too big for your interior, Moto Art also offers a much smaller DC-9 engine as a coffee table. Either way, you should know that the pricing for these one-of-a-kind tables is only available by inquiry, so if you have to ask, you probably won't want to know.

The sculptural stairway was installed in a custom-designed Mumbai apartment and features continuous, flowing lines that connect many of the highest and lowest steps together. The client wanted a big sculpture in front of their double-height window since it lies in the center of the home, but they also needed a staircase to traverse between the different levels of the apartment, "so we thought of a staircase that would actually be the sculpture," said Patricia Perez of Arquitectura en Movimiento Workshop.

The unique, U-shape design isn't just beautiful, it is also functional, with the open wooden slats allowing ample light to traverse through the window and into the apartment itself. Additionally, the first three steps are independant from the rest of the structure, creating bench seating for the residents.

While the design might not be the safest for homes with kids and elderly residents, it's certainly a striking layout that is more like a work of art than a stairway for the masses -and that's precisely what the client and architect were going for.

Do you always need more storage for your books? Do you find yourself eager to start a new title the second you finish the last? If so, the Bibliochaise is the perfect chair for your bookworm obsession, offing you a comfy place to sit while you read and ample storage to hold all those titles you have read or plan to read in the near future.

Designed by Nobody & Co., the Bibliochaise offers 16.5 feet of storage space for your books (estimated to come out to about 300 books although it does not say how much weight it can hold up). It is even built with wheels so you can push it up against the wall and still access those books on the backside of the chair.

Unfortunately the chair is only a prototype right now, but with so many people clamouring for it, the company will likely put the design in production soon -at least, we hope so.